


Potential Fulfilled

by Allerleirauh



Series: A Long Road [2]
Category: Stargate Universe
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-06-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 17:49:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/827107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allerleirauh/pseuds/Allerleirauh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Rush and Young have been put into stasis it’s Eli’s task to fix the last broken pod.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Potential Fulfilled

**Author's Note:**

  * For [taibhrigh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taibhrigh/gifts).



> written for smallfandomfest / FEST 13  
> prompt: the future's so bright

He had done it!

Standing on the observation deck, Eli felt like crowing. He had walked up here, walked straight to the large front side viewport. Spreading his arms wide, he had leaned on the railing, his grip firm around the cool metal.

_Maybe I_ should _crow_ , he thought. He certainly felt like it. He was so proud of himself, of fixing the pod, and of managing to do it with more than a handful of days to spare till his two-week time limit would draw to an end. Yes, he most definitely was in the mood to crow in triumph.

He drew a deep breath, ready to let it fly, but just as he opened his mouth a thought popped into his mind, appearing completely out of the blue, stopping him in his tracks.

_‘He’ wouldn’t do something so undignified_ , a tiny voice whispered inside of his mind. ‘ _He’ would be cool and smug and just gloat in quiet satisfaction,_ the voice added.

Eli froze, and instead of letting loose a well-deserved crow of victory, he sighed quietly. _This is a really shitty time to compare myself to one Dr Nicholas Rush_ , he told the tiny voice. _So, why don’t you just shut up and let me enjoy myself?_

There wasn’t any answer, but nonetheless a lot of his exuberance had evaporated into nothingness. He sighed again, resigning himself to a more respectable proclamation of his genius.

“I am awesome,” he stated, and while a crow really would have felt better, he still managed to relish each word at least a little bit. He considered repeating his claim, just for good measure.

“Just don’t let it go to your head, Mr Wallace,” Rush’s voice said from behind him.

For a split-second Eli seriously wondered if he had suddenly lost his mind and was hallucinating. _It’s the loneliness_ , the tiny voice from before helpfully supplied, _the endless hours of isolation_. Then he reined himself in. _Rubbish! You’ve been alone for a week, nothing more. That’s hardly enough time to develop a mad genius attitude!_

Of course, that left him with the puzzle of how Rush could have managed to leave his stasis-pod and come up here. It hadn’t taken Eli long to discover the alterations Rush had programmed into the hibernation schedule, but Eli had been certain he had disabled all of them. So, how could it be that Rush was standing behind him now?

Eli gave the man a surreptitious glance over his shoulder. “Hey,” he said, his voice sounding rather weak to his own ears.

“Hey yourself,” Rush answered, stepping forward until he was standing beside Eli, mirroring his posture by leaning on the view front’s railing.

“What are you doing here?” Eli asked, then barely managed to refrain from cringing. Not only was this just the kind of question to earn himself a more than acerbic answer by Rush, he was also embarrassed by the amount of completely involuntary petulance that somehow had crept into his voice.

He considered it a mercy when Rush gave him just a condescending look in return that said ‘You’re kidding me, right?’ just as clearly as any spoken reply could have done.

For a while silence fell between them; it rapidly grew uncomfortable.

Eli had no idea what to say next, what might be expected of him, when another thought crossed his mind. Reaching out, he carefully stabbed a finger at Rush’s chest. He gasped when it didn’t meet any resistance and pulled his hand back as if it had been burnt. “You’re not real!” he exclaimed.

This time he didn’t get more than a raised eyebrow at first. “You know Eli, that statement is uncharacteristically metaphysical for you,” Rush finally answered. “It’s also wrong, of course.”

Eli sighed again, then noticed a dangerous trend in his behaviour and tried to hold his breath for a while. It was so like Rush not to give a straight answer, but to pose him with another puzzle. At least there were only a finite number of viable solutions.

“Oh, okay, let’s see. I guess you’re either some form of hologram,” he said, ticking of the first alternative by raising a finger, “or you’re a hallucination, or—” he paused, taking a brief look at his fingers, checking if he had properly raised another one, before presenting his last solution, “—or you’re a representation of _Destiny’s_ AI.” He narrowed his eyes. “I think, you’re the AI, even though I really can’t imagine why you’ve chosen Rush as a template to show yourself to me.”

“What makes you think I had any choice in the matter?” the AI asked back, its question silently acknowledging that he had made the right assumption.

Vehemently Eli shook his head. “Oh, no, you can’t tell me that it’s my own fault,” he protested. “I mean, why don’t you assume the form of someone nice, like Chloe for instance?”

“You hadn’t thought of her,” the answer came immediately.

“How would you know?” he shot back. When no answer was forthcoming, he added, “Anyway, I certainly hadn’t thought of Rush.” It was a lie, of course; he was painfully aware that he had indeed thought of Rush only moments before the AI had materialized.

“He would be proud of you, Eli.” The words were spoken very softly, yet with utter conviction.

Eli stared, speechless for a second that felt close to an eternity, creating a moment that was heartbreakingly perfect. He swallowed hard and felt his cheeks growing warm.

“So,” he finally gushed out. “You somehow knew that I wanted a pat on the shoulder and decided to assume Rush’s form to give it to me.” He turned to his side and studied the AI’s profile. “That’s rather creepy, you know.”

The AI answered his look with a frown. “Eli Wallace, if you think I have time or energy to waste just to feed your ego, you’re seriously mistaken.”

The words felt like a dash of ice water, but even more disturbing was how well the AI was channelling the real Rush, even though Eli could have sworn that there were overtones of his mother’s best scolding voice intermixed with it. The combination caused him to backpedal in sudden alarm.

“Then why are you here?” he asked, his voice slightly rising even as he managed to catch himself, digging in his heels to combat his instinctive reaction.

“There’s a problem with the intergalactic course Miss Armstrong calculated. It needs fixing!” the AI answered matter-of-factly.

This time Eli couldn’t help but groan. “Oh, please, this might be news to you, but FTL calculations aren’t my strong suit.” Most likely It was a mistake, but he tried his best puppy eyed look when he added. “To be honest I’m really rubbish at them.”

The AI gave him a sharp look, before a sarcastic smirk appeared on its face. “Really? You could have fooled me. _I_ thought you were awesome.”


End file.
